LINGUIST List 8.1149

Thu Aug 7 1997

Confs: DGfS Reported Speech

Editor for this issue: Martin Jacobsen <martylinguistlist.org>

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<Manfred.vonRoncadoruni-bayreuth.de>
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 10:48:09 +1
Subject: TOC for linguist list
Dear Sirs,
Prof. Helen Dry has offered that we might include announcements of
our activities in LINGUIST (message of 24 April 97). You will find
the announcement of a workshop on reported speech below.
Thank you in advance.
Manfred Roncador
Announcement of a workshop at the '20th Conference of the German
Linguistic Society (DGfS)' in Halle on 'Form and function of reported
speech'
Coordinators: Tom Gueldemann and Manfred von Roncador
Linguistic studies have increasingly demonstrated that in contrast to
the traditional approach a clear-cut distinction between direct and
indirect speech is for many languages untenable. The existence of such
intermediate forms as semi-direct speech, so-called style indirect
libre (free indirect discourse), and logophoric constructions point
rather to an analysis whereby the different forms of reported speech
are assigned a specific position on a continuum whose extreme poles
are characterized by a minimal or maximal shift of the deictic centre
(cf. Roncador 1988). In the framework of such a theoretical approach,
it is interesting to investigate which different functions the
individual forms of reported speech may serve in discourse.
Another interesting question concerns the grammatical characteristics
of quotative constructions (QC), i.e. linguistic expressions used in
languages to signal reported speech, and how these QCs are related to
the functions of the different categories of reported speech laid out
on the continuum mentioned just above. Possible features to be
investigated in this respect are inter alia the internal structure of
QCs, the obligatoriness of the individual propositional elements in
them (such as reference to speaker and addressee), the particular
strategy for expressing the locutionary aspect, and the nature of the
semanto-syntactic relation between QC and the quote itself.
The historical processes that QCs or their elements are subject to
constitute another possible focus of attention. This is meant to
include the discussion on grammaticalization processes in this domain,
which is already quite extensive but which has probably focused too
much on the development of speech verbs only. As analyses of reported
speech in single languages are often still oriented towards concepts
developed for European languages, contributions on non-European
languages offering new insights on less-known aspects of this
functional domain will be particularly welcome. This will serve to put
these first attempts to typologize the phenomenon of reported speech
in its functional and formal aspects (cf. Roeck 1994) on a broader
empirical basis.
References:
Roeck, M. de. 1994. Typology of speech reports. In: Engberg-Pedersen
et al. (eds.), Function and expression in functional grammar. Berlin:
Mouton de Gruyter, pp.331-351.
Roncador, M. von. 1988. Zwischen
direkter und indirekter Rede: Nichtwoertliche direkte Rede, erlebte
Rede, logophorische Konstruktionen und Verwandtes. Tuebingen: Max
Niemeyer.
Prof.Helen Dry,
Dr. Manfred von Roncador
Afrikanistik I
Universitaet Bayreuth
D-95440 Bayreuth
Tel. +921/55 21 91
Fax +921/55 36 27